During the second ODI between Sri Lanka and New Zealand at Suriyawewa when star batsman Kumar Sangakkara pushed Nathan McCullum for a single to long-off, he completed 1000 ODI runs this year.
Misbah-ul-Haq, George Bailey and Rohit Sharma have all accomplished the feat, albeit they have all played over 20 ODIs whereas Sangakkara has only played in 19 ODIs.
The year 2013 is famous for dearth of international cricket thanks to our short sighted administrators, who cancelled a couple of crucial Test series. The board didn’t do much to catch up on ODI cricket as well.
While compiling 1000 runs this year, Sangakkara also went onto achieve some crucial landmarks and produced several knocks that were of the highest class. One of the key landmarks the former captain achieved during his knock on Tuesday was to take his average above 40, the hallmark of an outstanding ODI player. No other Sri Lankan cricketer – retired or active – boasts an ODI average of 40.
This year Sangakkara’s average is just short of 80 and he has a strike rate of almost 94. The best of Kumar Sangakkara in ODI cricket perhaps came this year, which has been sort of a strange one for the ICC Cricketer of the Year.
Sangakkara was injured during the Boxing Day Test in Australia which ruled him out of the New Year Test and the ODIs that followed. It was an inauspicious start in 2013 for him. Since returning from injury, he hasn’t looked back.
During the Champions Trophy, he fought a lone battle in Cardiff against the Kiwis as he made 68 in a total of 138. Sri Lanka lost a thriller on that occasion and there were moves being made in Colombo to leave out the senior players including Sangakkara for the remainder of the tour.
Suddenly Sangakkara hit a purple patch. He was an immovable object as he stunned The Oval with a superb counterattack. England had posted 293 after batting first and there were doubts about Sri Lanka’s batting that had crumbled in the previous game. Sangakkara first battled against England’s Ashes winning attack and then he dazzled. When Sri Lanka won with almost three over to spare, Sangakkara was unbeaten on 134 off 135 deliveries.
His impressive batting feats continued in the Caribbean in the triangular tournament that followed involving the hosts and India and the icing on the cake was during the home series against South Africa where he compiled 372 runs in five games including his career best score of 169. That knock at R. Premadasa Stadium revealed a repertoire of new strokes in Sangakkara’s game as he reverse pulled and paddle swept in an exhibition of complete mastery over the South African attack. Later he revealed that he had been working with coach Graham Ford on giving his game a new lift and hence the results. Sangakkara even executed the scoop shot to devastating effect on that occasion.
Sangakkara turned 36 a fortnight ago. He may not be the most talented international cricketer around, but he certainly is one of the best. He keeps raising the bar and sheer hard work and commitment has helped him to reach the heights he has in international cricket.
Following the net sessions of the national cricket team can be an interesting exercise. The hours that Sangakkara puts in to fine-tune his game reveals the man’s character and his unending desire to be the best player he can.
Not just with his batting, but even with his wicket keeping Sangakkara has been putting the same effort and the enthusiasm. Often his wicket keeping excellence go neglected. His 422 dismissals behind the stumps are only behind Mark Boucher (424) and Adam Gilchrist (472).
